👟 Walk the Talk: Asian Conglomerates
Acrostics Asia takes deep dives into Asian conglomerates to shed light on the relationships behind the numbers.
Acrostics Asia is anchored in Asia and delivers forward-looking insights across the region’s conglomerates, including Indonesia’s Salim Group and the Philippines’ Campos family who controls Del Monte Pacific.
Salim Group
On 30 May 2025, Acrostics Asia wrote that Indonesian conglomerate Salim Group has turned around the operations and credit standing of Bumi Resources Minerals (BRMS).
Indonesian mining and capital markets veteran Agoes Projosasmito – a long-time ally of Salim Group honcho Anthoni Salim – was appointed as BRMS’ president director in March 2022. The miner’s ability to get new loans is in large part thanks to the Salim-Projosasmito combo, according to banking friends.
On 24 November 2025, BRMS announced that it had secured a USD 625 million syndicated loan to accelerate the construction of its underground gold mine and expand its exploration.
Del Monte
Acrostics Asia unpacked the bankruptcy of 139-year-old US canned food producer Del Monte Foods and accurately flagged the impact on its Asian parent company.
On 2 July 2025, Acrostics Asia wrote that Del Monte Foods’ “trapdoor” trick – dropping a set of collateral to an unrestricted unit that re-pledged those assets to get new loans – set off the chain reaction that led to its bankruptcy filing.
Acrostics Asia predicted on 4 July that while Del Monte Foods’ Asian parent, Del Monte Pacific, would likely take a hit from the deconsolidation of the US subsidiary, its cash-generating Philippine unit can be a lifeboat to pull it out of choppy waters.
Del Monte Pacific announced on 31 July that it had recognized a full impairment of USD 703.5 million related to the US business. However, the group controlled by the Campos family said that it expected an earnings recovery on the back of its Philippine unit’s contribution.
On 24 November, Del Monte Pacific released its quarterly results ending October 2025, which showed that total sales grew 10% to USD 234.9 million. Net profit also jumped seven-fold to USD 16.8 million partly due to operational efficiency.
UOB vs Lippo
Acrostics Asia unpacked the 11-year legal battle between Singapore’s United Overseas Bank (UOB) and a unit of Indonesia’s Lippo Group over allegedly inflated housing loans.
UOB was awarded less than 20% of the SGD 92 million (USD 71 million) that it had sought because of two key mis-steps, according to court documents and remarks from the Singapore judges.
On 26 November 2025, a Singapore High Court judge upheld his decision to award the bank SGD 17.7 million (USD 13.6 million) in damages.
Felda vs Rajawali
On 20 August 2025, Acrostics Asia wrote that Malaysian state-owned conglomerate Felda is struggling to claw back its hefty investment in Indonesian palm oil producer Eagle High Plantations.
When Felda purchased the Eagle High stake from Indonesian tycoon Peter Sondakh’s Rajawali Group in 2016, some minority shareholders and politicians accused former Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak of pushing the deal to help his Indonesian friend – which was denied by both sides.
On 9 October 2025, Malaysia’s Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said that Felda’s subsidiary, FIC Properties, still owes RM 2.77 billion (USD 670.4 million) to Finance Ministry unit GovCo Holdings after getting a loan to fund the Eagle High stake acquisition.
